Mission Irresistable
by Fezzes64
Summary: Arthur, senior agent and expert at his line of duty is paired with Alfred, the charming and somewhat oblivious young spy. Together, they must help the entire group take down 'Triumph', the organisation planning to take over the world. Totally original, right? The first issue, however, is how to deal with each other. XD Usuk, and Collab with DubzNChloe :D


Arthur was a rather accomplished spy amongst his peers. His boss thought it was because he wasn't distracted by petty things such as friendship, or love. He was an isolated man, in a way. He may have been slight and small for a man in his class, but he got the job done.

He currently sat in a hotel, awaiting the others to assist him on this particular mission. He was taking advantage of the time to himself, by indulging in a nice cup of tea and taking a nice, long shower. He even managed a smile, for his mood wasn't dull and dark as it usually was.

He sat up slightly as he heard footsteps down the hallway, traffic through the rainy day, people talking upstairs He closed his eyes, listening, breathing, taking the day off his trained, clever. senses.

Right around this time, a certain agent named Alfred F. Jones was standing in the lobby of the same hotel. His boss had told him that he was to begin a new mission, with a new partner.

Now, Alfred realized most of his past partners and he hadn't got along. He attributed this to their inability to handle his sparkling wit and spur-of-the-moment impulses, but really, these things were what made him such a good spy. Countless times, his charming personality had enabled him to win information, and his quick thinking had saved his life.

He wondered who his new partner would be. He certainly hoped it wouldn't be Francis. The man was nice enough, but slightly grabby. Grabby in all the wrong ways. And also conceited.

These things and more ran through the constantly racing mind of the American as he rocked on the balls of his feet, patiently waiting for his boss as he stood in the middle of the large and grand room.

With his acute senses, Arthur guessed his new partner was here based on the sudden change in atmosphere of the place. However, instead of standing to await the person and greet them formally, he remained in the pleasantly comfortable chair. He set his cup of tea down and closed his eyes for just a moment, savouring the time. He hadn't realised how tired he was.

Alfred checked his watch. It was noon exactly. So, his boss should be here right about...

Now.

And there she was, striding towards him in a confident manner. She was holding a piece of paper.

She didn't look Alfred in the eye as she passed, slipping the paper into his hand with utmost stealth. In fact, if Alfred himself hadn't been paying attention, he probably wouldn't have noticed either.

And then the woman was gone.

Alfred waited until there was absolutely no sign of her before unfolding the paper.

'turn around', it read. And so, he did.

Arthur found he really didn't want to open his eyes and ignored the eyes he suddenly felt on him from people in general and perhaps someone else, and the rain that seemed to pound harder and harder on the pavement, and the doppler-affected voices, the different languages...For a second, he just wished everyone would be quiet. Geez, he needed to get out more.

Alfred's eyes fell on a rather unassuming man sitting in a chair all the way at the other end of the lobby. He was directly across from him, simply sitting there.

Alfred knew they were spies, and he knew that that meant they were supposed to not attract attention (his brother, Matthew, who was also in the business, happened to be the best in their profession at remaining unseen.), but this man simply stood out, causing Alfred's breath to catch.

His hair was a gold color, catching the light in a mesmerizing way. He was a small man (and cute, although Alfred decided he shouldn't say that to him.), and although his eyes were closed, he wore a slightly annoyed expression, his impressively bushy eyebrows crinkled.

Alfred determined that this must be his partner. He thought. Maybe. Oh well, he'd find out when he got there.

Arthur's eyebrow twitched as he felt a slightly deeper gaze fall upon him. It made him slightly uncomfortable, but he would never admit that. He was a spy, after all. He took a deep breath, perfectly aware that he had the appearance he didn't know what was going on, but that was a good thing. Give a looked-down-upon impression, and then the other will severely underestimate your ability and capacity.

Alfred began walking over to the man, his eyes remaining locked on his target. This wasn't a hard thing to do, considering he had decided that he rather liked looking at this man.

"Hey, dude!" he said excitedly once he was standing directly in front of the man. His boss had said that his name was... Uh... Archibald? Something like that, maybe. God, that was an awful name. He thanked his lucky stars he had been given a cool name!

The American continued staring at the man whose name he would soon learn was Arthur (absolutely nothing like Archibald), waiting for him to open his eyes.

"And of whom do I have the pleasure of acquainting?" Arthur replied coolly without missing a beat, calmly folding his hands in his lap and letting his eyes flutter open to see his new companion.

He was surprisingly handsome, he noticed as he took a casual seat across from him. But he didn't let this show; just in his mind, he watched the golden tresses and little cowlick shift as he moved, his electric blue eyes observing him with a friendly gaze. He was dressed rather smartly, for an American. A nice polo and khaki slacks. It matched him, nevertheless.

Alfred blinked in surprise. The other had startlingly gorgeous green eyes, almost mesmerizing. He quickly recovered, though, and smiled his trademark grin.

"I'm Alfred. Alfred F. Jones. I'm assuming that you're... " Alfred trailed off. He decided Archibald must not be this man's name. After all, he certainly didn't look like an Archibald. It was something with 'Ar' at the beginning though... Arthur?

"Arthur Kirkland?" he questioned.

"Mm. Clever," Arthur hummed in reply, offering a rare small smile and a nod of approval. "You've only seen my name once, therefore you are unsure of what it is. But in a moment, you remember the exact date, place, and time you saw it. Quick thinking, very good." he praised. He hoped to startle the younger with his knowledge of the boy's understanding. But it was all obvious, written all over his face. Elementary, if you will. "Yes, indeed," he confirmed his conjecture and put out his hand. "It is a pleasure, Mr. Jones."

Alfred raised his eyebrows. Either he had a very expressive face (likely), or this man was very good at reading people (also likely. In fact, both facts were correct,). He was obviously dealing with someone very intelligent.

_At least I didn't call him Archibald_, Alfred thought.

He extended his hand and energetically shook the other's. "Pleasure to meet ya too! So, got any idea what we're supposed to be doing? My boss told me earlier you knew all about our top-secret mission!" Alfred said, his voice not all that low, but thankfully shy of his normal volume, which happened to be yelling.

Arthur chuckled inwardly at his enthusiasm. It was well-known to him that his new little friend wasn't a newbie and had some good experience, but it was somewhat odd that he be so childish about it. He did however have a very firm handshake...Hm. So he was the strong, forte type.

"I do have an idea, but unfortunately your boss has the wrong impression. All I heard was there is some other organisation hiding out in America planning to dictate the world through some clever and new way, as usual." Arthur sighed; enemies weren't as fun to triumph nowadays. "I was under the assumption you knew all the details," he grinned a little amusedly at the somewhat comical situation.

Alfred, seeing the other man's smile, mirrored it with one of his own and a loud laugh. "Nah, boss doesn't tell me anything. She says that I don't listen to the plan anyway, so why bother?" the American sat forward excitedly in his chair, blue eyes locked on Arthur's green ones. "So why don't you tell me about this organization thing, huh?"

Arthur was starting to find the American's eagerness quite amusing, but...cute in a way. He must make a charming spy. He crossed his arms and took a big breath, unable to stop smiling warmly for some reason. There was something about this boy...

"From what I know," he began. "They plan on pulling a V for Vendetta, or sorts. Their leader, I'm assuming, is going to become a rising political figure with time on their side, because this group contains a lot of experts on winning the people. They will make it so it appears they're not the lesser of many evils, but seekers and winners of the greater good. Gradually they will contaminate and corrupt the idea America has kept dear for so long until they are powerful enough to control the country, and then carry on with the rest of the world." he finished calmly, but darkly because of frightening truth. "It's simple enough. All we have to do is rival another rising star with theirs to distract them, find them, and take them out from the inside." He concluded with a flashing smirk, already looking forward to bringing them down.

"OOOH! Ooh! I know what we could do!" Alfred began excitedly, eyes gleaming with childlike enthusiasm. "We could do a V for Vendetta back and DRESS AS V AND IMITATE THE MOVIE, DOESN'T THAT SOUND FUN?" Alfred laughed excitedly.

Arthur couldn't help but laugh at the utter ridiculousness, and it was weird because he almost never laughed. "Haha! I wholeheartedly disagree with that idea, and I would shoot it down, but you and I both know that beneath the mask, the idea is bulletproof!" he joked, making a direct quote from V and hoping Alfred got it.

"But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace soubriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis persona. Voila! In view humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the "vox populi" now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin, van guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.

The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.

Verily this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V." he recited in perfect time.

Alfred's smile widened more and more as the Englishman went on, clapping once he was done. "Dude, that was so cool! Do you know any other lines?!" he asked, completely allowing himself to be sidetracked

"Every word," he replied confidently, smiling proudly. "You would do well to ask me later, but we do have a job, Agent Jones." he reminded gently, still quite proud he'd managed to impress the American with his knowledge of his favourite film.

"Ah, right, right." Alfred replied, smiling sheepishly, blushing slightly. "So... Do we just start now? Boss wasn't clear about that either. She said that we'd know when to start, but hell if I know!" he confessed.

"No time's better than the present," Arthur commented teasingly, watching Alfred's shocked expression with an amused face. "But no, it's better that we wait for tomorrow, since it's already too late to do anything productive." he leaned forward in his chair and stood. "However, there are some things I want to check and make sure of. Other than that, we have the day off." he waited for the American to follow suit, since he expected the other to assume he knew what he was doing. Which he did, totally.

"Okay~!" he agreed, standing up and following him.

Arthur, as a matter of fact, had no idea what he was doing, and as he departed the hotel with Alfred in tow, he made up something as he pulled out his umbrella.

"I want to see what dents the organisation has made in the political world thus far," he said quietly, lest someone hear. "I'm looking for signs, advertisements, anything that would hint their presence." he tried to sound like this was the plan from the start, and to an extent, he succeeded.

"Like the illuminati?" Alfred asked in an equally hushed voice, discreetly taking out his own flashy American umbrella.

"Er..." This threw Arthur off. "I-if you want to think of it that way, sure?" he offered, not sure if that was convincing.

And then he saw it; their symbol. the wreath of triumph and the words "_Veni Vidi Vici_..."

"Is that it?" Alfred asked, following Arthur's eye and seeing the symbol. "Because that thing looks really fucking cool. Hey, hey Artie, do _we _get to have a cool symbol? I want a cool symbol! Like a superhero!" Alfred said enthusiastically.

"...You just crossed a line, Jones." Arthur suddenly said darkly. "First, don't call me 'Artie' by any means. Second, that's the enemy, not a cool symbol. Third, yes, we have a symbol, and no we don't ever use it. For reasons such as your reaction." he lectured, and began to get more into character with his usual self. "Regardless, we know now what we have to do. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to-! Get your mind off the bloody symbols, git!" he snapped as Alfred completely ignored him and looked at the screen with adoring eyes.

"What's wrong with 'Artie'?" Alfred asked, head cocking to the side as he backtracked. "And okay, got it, got it, what's my mission? I'm paying attention now." he promised, unable to keep his face serious for more than thirty seconds; his grin was back before he was through talking.

"Everything is wrong with that blasted name, idiot! Now, what I was GOING to say, was your mission is to stick with me for today and do exactly as I say tomorrow so we can get this done, yes?" he crossed his arms and pouted slightly, pretty sure the American wouldn't understand, or get it, or even hear him, for that matter.

Alfred, in fact, _did _understand, although the issue of whether he would obey was still in question. "Got it, Artie." he said with a wink, putting special emphasis on the pet name. "I accept this cool mission!"

"Don't call me that!" Arthur snapped again. "Now, I have to go back to the hotel because I just got done with a mission yesterday and frankly I'm a bit tired. If you like, you can either come back with me and discuss things with your boss, or walk around the city and get a good idea of how well the organisation has marked their territory in and amongst the population." he took a big breath and continued. "We do have to keep our minds on things, but for now, if I were you, it'd be best to save your effort for today, alright? I'm going." and without another word, he started heading back to the hotel, not another block away.

Alfred decided he liked Arthur. It was so fun to get the other all worked up! Plus, he was pretty cute.

He quickly followed the other. He was going to have to ask Elizaveta to tell him all about Arthur... Oh, and the mission.

Arthur realised Alfred was going to heed his advice and a small smile flashed across his lips. The boy was pretty silly, childish in a very...endearing way. He must ask Kiku more about him, since his boss seemed to know everything about everybody.

He hurried indoors as he noticed clouds overhead, and felt like he was flying up the stairs. He felt himself blushing, and hoped to whatever he could that Alfred couldn't tell. He didn't like to give out emotional responses out to anyone.

"Hey Artie, why're your ears turning red?" Alfred asked from behind as he followed, not showing any sign of giving up the nickname. "They're like little stop signs!"

Alfred, while charming and clever (mostly. Occasionally he had those moments, but didn't everyone?), maintained a lack of subtlety. It was as though he didn't have a filter between his brain and his mouth. Sometimes he had one, but it was typically only on missions as opposed to social situations.

Arthur only blushed harder and self-consciously covered his ears with his hands. He was not used to being harassed in social situations.

"Maybe they are telling you to stop, to stop talking..." He growled, resisting a nervous laugh.

The American let out a good-natured laugh. "You're funny, Artie~! My brother says I never stop talking! But I'm the opposite of him, 'cause he's real quiet!" Alfred shared. "Do you have any brothers, Artie?"

"...Yes..." Arthur replied darkly. He hoped the American got the message he didn't want to talk about brothers, and said nothing else as he strode across the hall to his room.

Alfred blinked, for once sensing the mood. He decided that that was a sore topic and moved on from it, staying quiet (which was a rare event in itself).

Arthur was grateful Alfred was silent, slightly surprised he didn't inquire further. Regardless, he shrugged and showed Alfred where they were staying and left him to do his own thing. He grinned inwardly at his cleverness before; he left a still warm pot of tea where he'd wanted it, and sat down to help himself. Once he'd prepared the perfect cup and offered Alfred some, he absentmindedly checked the weather on his phone. What a surprise, it was going to storm tonight. Lovely.

"So, Artie, are you gonna tell me about yourself? Your accomplishments, missions you've been on?" Alfred asked cheerfully, grinning widely at the other

Arthur smirked. "What's the point of being a spy if I told you?" he sipped his tea calmly. "I could ask you the same thing, but I won't because I'm a gentleman."

"Well, you're no fun~" Alfred replied, pouting. "What's the point of doing cool stuff if you're not gonna talk about it?"

He fell silent for awhile before a mischievous smile spread over his face. "I bet you haven't done any cool stuff and that's why you won't answer me~"

"You are really childish," Arthur scoffed, falling for it. "I've done plenty of cool things, certainly more than you know of." He replied defensively, narrowing his gaze out the window.

"Aww, Artie, I was just messing around with you~!" Alfred laughed, "Why don't we kiss and make up~?"

Arthur was startled silent. "Wha...E-excuse me?!" he demanded, feeling his face burn up. Since Alfred was standing behind the chair he was sitting it, he sank as far as he could into the comfortable wings, trying to hide his face. He wasn't sure what was going on, if Alfred was teasing him, or if he was having a good laugh, or...? Dear stars, he'd never been harassed like this before!

Alfred laughed loudly, giving no indication of whether he had been kidding or not. "Wow! I didn't even know it was possible to turn that shade of red! Impressive, Artie!"

"Sh-shut the bloody hell up! Unless you want a mark to remember it from, just stop talking!" he didn't realise he was trembling slightly, and hid further in the chair.

"What _kind _of mark~?" Alfred asked, wiggling his eyebrows exaggeratedly.

Arthur seethed. "A kind that will make you wish you never met me because it will never heal...Perhaps a scar that carves out that smirk of yours," he growled, his face not seeming to stop flushing.

"Whoa dude, chill out! It's just a joke!" Alfred replied cheerfully, his smile never wavering. "Come on, why so serious~?"

"Oh, don't even!" Arthur was on his feet and paced furiously in front of the window, refusing to meet Alfred's eyes. "I believe," he spat, still deeply wounded and embarrassed. "I said a scar that carves out the smile, not one that creates it, you twit!"

Alfred cocked his head to the side. "You want me to stop smiling?" He asked mystified.

Arthur was beginning to lose it. "Do you really need me to answer that question?" he said quietly, halting his pacing, clasping his hands behind his back and lowering his head so he had to look up to see the spy before him.

"Okay." Alfred agreed, adopting a serious face. He looked back at Arthur calmly. "Better?"

In all honesty, he was rather confused. He'd been told several times before that his smile was one of his best features. Cheerfulness was something that came naturally to him, but he supposed if it bothered Arthur _that _much he could try and be serious.

Arthur groaned and dramatically face-palmed. "Oh dear..." he mumbled. "Nevermind, if you're going to be like that." he strided slowly back to his chair and sat back down. He still wasn't sure if Alfred was just being silly to mess with him or if he was honestly just bone-dead stupid. But then he felt slightly bad for making the American think he wanted him to be serious and thought of a way to...Well, you'll see in a minute.

Alfred worked hard to maintain the expression but it was gone again within a matter of minutes. He could see Arthur was still upset, though, and felt slightly guilty. "I'm sorry, Artie. I didn't mean to upset you." Alfred apologized earnestly, looking into Arthur's green eyes with his own blue ones as he sat in front of the other.

Arthur clasped his hands together and and looked at Alfred with a lowered green gaze. He opened his mouth, as if he was taking a breath and was about to say something very important.

"Bingle bongle dingle dangle, yickiteetoo, yickiteetah, ping pong, lippy toppy too ta." he said with a perfectly serious face.

Alfred blinked rapidly, obviously not having expected the Englishman to be capable of humor. He burst into laughter, slapping his own leg as he struggled for breath. He was certain that if anyone else had told that joke it would've been merely half as funny. Once he was through dying of laughter, he looked at Arthur, surprised, an incredulous smile spread over his face.

Arthur merely frowned. "Moosletottle fairywinkle soupy goodness tighty-wighty gummy beary poptart taco." He continued, as if it was completely normal.

And there Alfred went again, bent double with laughter. Once he got done (again) he smiled widely at Arthur. "Is there more?"

Arthur shrugged. "Puppy-duppy supper kangaskhan Sensei Bassi wishy-washy hargle-bargle nappy wappy soffy ve."

Alfred grinned widely at him, highly amused. "I didn't know you were capable of humor." he commented cheerfully.

Arthur scoffed. "What do you think I am, some sort of old-man spy who is supremely old-fashioned and ignorant and hateful of all the young people?" he asked cheekily, saying so because he knew that was exactly what the American thought of him.

"Yup~ but now I know that isn't true~!" Alfred told him happily. "So, dude, don't forget, tomorrow is where all the agents meet with all the bosses to determine stuff~!"

"Hmm. How could I?" Arthur mumbled. "However..." he peeked up a little at Alfred and narrowed his eyes. "You're 19, aren't you? You're birthday's in two months, right?" he guessed, just by looking at him.

"... Yeah. How did you know?" asked Alfred, his expression amazed, before cheerfully adding, "I bet you're thirty! Am I right?"

Arthur blinked slowly at Alfred with a brooding stare, which to anyone's chagrin meant 'Dear stars, no.' But because of Alfred's previous display of reading faces, he shook his head slightly. "No."

"Oh, thirty-one?" Alfred asked curiously.

Arthur took a big breath and smiled wryly, shaking his head. He gestured downwards to signify he was younger than that.

"Oh, twenty-nine?" the American asked excitedly.

Arthur shook his head with his glowering expression and pointed downwards again.

"Twenty-eight?" he asked, surprised.

"No," Arthur sighed, gesturing downwards a little more vigorously.

"Hmmm... twenty-six?" Alfred suggested.

"Ugh." Arthur groaned, leaning all the way back in his seat, but the back was further than he realised and he practically ended up laying down. "Twenty-three," he mumbled into one of the pillows. "Git."

Alfred blushed slightly. "I was getting there." he defended himself. "So how did you know how old I was?"

"Because there's a certain thing about you that says you're not quite twenty yet. And the only reason I knew your birthday was in two months was because all American's birthdays seem to be in July." Arthur replied, deciding the chair was actually quite comfortable in his position.

"July fourth!" Alfred said happily. "And what about me will change when I'm twenty?"

"I don't know...It's a spy thing." Arthur said, perplexed with himself. "Something that...I don't know, something about the way you carry yourself changes. At least, that's what they told me..."

"Who's 'they'?" asked Alfred curiously.

"The other spies who some are, believe it or not, older than I am!" Arthur said with sarcastic enthusiasm. "Because I'm the British one, they all think I was raised by James Bond, or something. I wouldn't trust them if I were you." he said, as if hinting he might have tried and only gotten hurt in the process.

"What? Are you talking about, like, Ludwig and Feli and Antonio, Lovino, Yao, Gilbert, and all of them?" Alfred raised his eyebrows. They had all treated him fine…

"Not all of them, mind you. A couple of them I can't quite understand, but...Francis and his little group...Well, my point is, you really shouldn't be so quick to lie trust around because it'll only end in vain." Arthur explained. "My solution is easy; I don't trust anyone." he huffed indignantly.

"No one? That sounds kind of lonely." Alfred told him. "I guess you're talking about Francis, Gil, and Antonio, huh? They seem pretty nice... What'd they do?"

Arthur felt himself blushing again. "Y-you say that like it's a bad thing? And why do you care, anyway?!" the only other people who dared to get him flustered more than enough times in one day were the malicious three he referred to.

"Whoa, man, calm down." Alfred said. "I'm just making conversation."

"Ugh." Arthur sat back up. "If that's the case, why not try to take the conversation off of me, eh? Obviously, if you can see anything, it's not a very interesting subject. How about you? Let's talk about you." he would never admit that was the direction he wanted to go the whole time.

"Oh, okay." Alfred agreed cheerfully. "Well, what do you wanna know~?"

"Anything. Tell me about your life before the spy-business," Arthur suggested.

"Hm... Okay!" Alfred said, appearing to ponder for a moment. "I have a twin brother named Matthew. I graduated in the top ten percent of my class. I won prom king, and I was the MVP of the football team. When I graduated from high school, I decided that I wanted to do something a lot cooler than go to college for football... So, I convinced Mattie to go into the business with me!"

"Mmhm, quite the ambitious one in highschool, then?" Arthur chuckled, taking off his shoes and curling up in the chair, noticing it was getting dark out. He was so slight and small he made the chair look huge in comparison to himself.

Alfred smiled. "You could say that." he agreed. He couldn't help but notice how small Arthur was and think to himself about how cute the Englishman also happened to be. "Anything else you want to know~?"

"...What kind of missions do you like? The field ones, the HQ ones, the data ones...?" Arthur asked, not blinking under Alfred's stare.

"All of them~" Alfred replied confidently. "What about you?"

"Only...Only the field ones because then I don't have to deal with everyone else. " Arthur admitted a little quietly. "Except in this case, of course. I do prefer the solo ones, however."

Alfred looked at him, seemingly surprised. His head was cocked to the side in a manner reminiscent of a puppy. "But you're so funny and cu- cool, I mean. I thought you had lots of friends."

Arthur frowned, then burst out laughing. "Pfft, hahaha ha! Y-you're joking, right?" He couldn't stop for a moment, and giggled a little bit. "You really think someone like me has friends? Oh, dear, no," he was still laughing. "People are very quick to judge and think they have an infinite understanding of you when really they know absolutely nothing. You're different; you're willing to take time to understand someone. Personally I think that's a more important quality than being able to say you're a spy." He smiled warmly for a moment, but then it fell. "I guess that is a little depressing, isn't it...?" He asked himself.

"It is kind of depressing, dude." Alfred agreed, before adding with a bright smile, "But I guess it's kind of true, too. So don't worry about it, man."

"...Ah." Arthur replied, not quite sure what else to say. So if it was true he had no friends it was a good thing? He was a little confused, if he were honest. "...Alright. If you say so," Arthur said uncertainly. What Alfred just said contradicted what he'd learnt when he was younger...'Everyone makes friends in school, usually a group to hang out with. They aren't ideal, but they learn social skills for future friend-making in work and such.' And he just hadn't found the right people? He decided he wouldn't think about it anymore, because he was starting to feel sorry for himself, that he hadn't been brave enough to even try making friends in school.

"I do! That's what my mom told me, and she's never wrong." the American said confidently. Indeed, everything his mother had told him about life so far had proven to be true. What reason did he have to doubt her?

Arthur was slightly surprised. He didn't expect either of their mothers to come into the conversation. Arthur found this very endearing. "Oh, really?" Arthur tried not to chuckle. "That's lovely, what other life lessons does she give you?" he asked, genuinely curious

"Well, she always told me that if I really love something, I better be ready to fight for it! And she also told me that when I met 'The One', I would know. Oh, and she told me that one day, if I didn't learn how to shut my mouth when I was running it, I would get in a lot of trouble!" Alfred spouted out happily, looking at Arthur expectantly.

"Mmhm," Arthur hummed, closing his eyes and nodding. "I'll bet anything you had a lovely childhood with a mother like yours." he glanced out the window again and yawned quietly without warning. He forgot he was tired. "Oh dear, it's gotten really late." he pointed out, shifting downwards slightly so he could rest his head on the arm of the chair. "I don't know about you, but I am ready to go to sleep."

"Eh, I'm kind of tired myself." Alfred agreed, standing up and stretching his arms above his head.

Arthur sighed. It meant he'd have to get up, changed, and ready to sleep and everything else. So he reluctantly moved from his spot and stood as well.

Alfred seemed to have no qualms with abruptly stripping, as evidenced by the way he tugged off his shirt and dropped his pants quickly.

Arthur didn't appear to notice as he turned around and headed (i.e. fled) towards his suitcase to rummage around in that for a little, pretending to be occupied by that.

Alfred cheerfully walked over to the hotel closet, clad merely in star-spangled boxers as he reached inside, grabbing the pajamas and pulling them on.

Arthur was grateful he didn't feel like he was blushing and politely and modestly slid into the bathroom with a quiet click.

He got dressed and brushed his teeth and did all the other things he had to do before bed. Then he softly opened the door, padded out, and slid under the sheets of bed.

All you could see was a slight lump on the bed as he shifted around until he was comfortable. He didn't turn out the lights because he figured it was better to just wait until Alfred was ready as well.

A few moments later, the lights turned off, followed by a muffled 'thump' and a curse word. After that, there was a rustling noise. "Good night, Artie!" Alfred told the Brit cheerily.

"Good night, Alfred..." Arthur mumbled sleepily into the pillow, too tired to say much else.

Alfred laid there in silence for a while, waiting for his always-racing mind to come to a stop. He could hear the storm outside and attempted to ignore it in favor of counting backwards from five thousand.

Arthur found that he wasn't able to sleep, unfortunately, which greatly discouraged him. He was terribly tired.

So he gave up after a while, and uncovered his head so he could look out the window. He watched the outside for a bit, observing the rippling of the window as the rain poured down harder and harder, and found the sound soothing. But he just watched, the moonlight shining in his eyes with a tired sparkle. He was at peace for the moment, even if he wasn't sleeping like he wanted to.

Abruptly. there was a loud boom that rattled the window, followed by lightning that lit up the room.

Alfred was up, across the room, and in Arthur's bed in the space of two seconds, clinging to the older man as there was another clap of thunder. It seemed like this wasn't a conscious decision as much as an instinct as the American clung tighter to Arthur.

Arthur blinked in surprise, which contrasted to what he would usually do; normally he would jump up and start yelling, but there was something about this situation that made Arthur feel as if it had happened before. So he remained still for a moment.

He was laying on his side, face towards the window with Alfred curled up behind him, arms tightly wound around Arthur's torso. So Arthur slowly turned over, allowing Alfred to loosen his grasp slightly so he could lie on his back and shift his arm underneath Alfred's head because he wasn't on the pillow. Alfred had a very strong grip on him, and left nothing to be desired in Arthur's struggling breath, but even if he would be crossing a huge line, Arthur didn't seem to mind.

Alfred was grateful that Arthur didn't get upset. He was just as surprised as Arthur at his abrupt change in location.

His fear of storms and thunder and everything were really quite embarrassing, but he couldn't help himself. He buried his face in Arthur's shoulder, trembling as the storm raged on.

"Sorry." he mumbled into the cloth of Arthur's sleeve.

Arthur merely smiled, still gazing serenely out the window. In answer, he gently rubbed his fingers across Alfred's shoulders in a similar manner that he would with a child, hoping to soothe him.

Slowly, Alfred relaxed, feeling Arthur's fingers across his tensed muscles. He sighed, feeling himself get sleepy from the rhythm of Arthur's stroking. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep, his fingers still holding tightly to the other's shirt.

Arthur felt the American slowly relax against him, and soon he too followed suit.

* * *

**Sooo yas, this is spies, and it makes me so happy 'cause I've always wanted to write something funny and serious at the same time like James Bond :D Hope you liked it~**

**~Fezzes64**


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